The Deep End » Outer Banks [JJ Maybank] BOOK ONE

XII: Overfalls

"Drop it!" Rafe hissed, pulling threateningly against Lee's trachea. Lee didn't want to, but her hands instinctively dropped the gun as she tugged on Rafe's arm. She was gasping for air, glancing around wildly for a way out.

"I don't wanna do this, Lee," Rafe reasoned. "Promise you'll go home if I let go."

The feeling of asphyxiation was too familiar. She was desperate for air. She was drowning, drowning, drowning on land. The world was spinning. Topper had Pope in a chokehold. Kelce had JJ pinned on the ground. Lee kicked wildly at Rafe as her feet came off of the ground, her toes stretching down towards land. Breathe, breathe, breathe she chanted. Her lungs wouldn't fill with oxygen, wouldn't fill with water, they were shriveling up in her chest. Her fingernails dug into the skin on Rafe's arm and she heard him cursing in pain.

Rafe dropped his grip on Lee's neck and she fell to her knees in the grass just as the screen in front of them went up in flames. She quickly scrambled to her feet, breathing heavily as she rested her palms on her knees to regain oxygen in her lungs. The crowd on the other side of the screen was screaming and running away fearfully. Rafe stepped around Lee, grabbing Topper and Kelce before walking off. Lee straightened her back just as she was caught in an embrace that knocked the wind out of her.

"Geez, Carter," JJ hissed in her ear. His arms were locked tightly around Lee's waist, her tiptoes barely grazing the ground. "You scared the shit out of me."

Lee laughed softly, winding her arms around JJ. "Sorry," she whispered, burying her face into the crook of his neck. She could feel JJ trembling slightly in her arms and she held him tighter, pressing a soft kiss to his collarbone. "I'm sorry," she murmured again. "I'm sorry."

JJ only held her closer, his cheek pressing against the side of her head. "You're crazy," he hummed.

She could hear his heartbeat thrumming in his chest. Lee slowly dropped from the embrace, her hands falling to JJ's chest as he set her down. Kiara and Pope quickly came over to them, Kiara's face showing only relief and Pope's showing only concern. JJ's mouth opened in a question that Lee was sure she didn't want to answer, so she gracefully started a conversation that wasn't as aversive to her.

"The square groupers are dead," Lee blurted. "I mean, dead dead. Like, I saw their bodies dead."

"What?" Pope said. "They're dead?"

Lee nodded in response.

Kiara frowned, asking, "What happened to them?"

"Uh," Lee began, hesitating. "I couldn't tell, their bodies—" she paused, gagging slightly at the memory, "the bodies were completely mangled. It looked like the sharks had gotten to them."

Pope gave Lee a skeptical look. "Sharks?" he repeated. "There hasn't been a shark attack around the OBX in years."

"I know!" Lee said, growing frustrated. "I mean, it might've been a shark bite, but... it might not have been! I dunno, Peterkin was showing me this picture of them and I was really scared, I wasn't exactly inspecting them up close and personal!"

JJ shook his head, throwing up his hands to stop his friends from arguing. "Hang on," he said, "Why were you with Peterkin?"

"She came to my hospital room," Lee explained, "wanted to ask me some questions. She said we need to stay away from the Merchant."

"Whoever killed the groupers might be after the Royal Merchant," Kiara said. "And if that's the case..." Kiara trailed off, unwilling to say what they were all thinking.

Pope bit his lip, finishing, "We might be next. But, we aren't sure that they were killed—right, Lee? I mean, if it was sharks..."

Lee shook her head frantically. "No, you guys don't get it. If the sharks got 'em, it was after they were already dead. They were torn open."